Home
by Kimiz
Summary: "He's been on the road for so long on this journey of discovery, walking great lengths and climbing great heights, standing in the rain and lying in the sun. He's gone so far to find himself, but maybe it's really been right here all along." Sasuke finally comes home. Canon-compliant.


A/N: I used to like Sasuke a lot when I first started watching Naruto, probably because I was young and I suffered from fangirl syndrome as bad as Naruto Classic Sakura haha But then he went berserk and I really just didn't give a damn about him anymore. Since he got his shit together, I kind of made peace with his character, though I have other favorites nowadays.

This is in part a nod to my childhood, but it's also because I often forget Naruto is less about ships and cool fights than it is about the journey of these two best friends. Here's to fifteen years of our lives!

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><p><strong>Home<strong>

The house is as far from the decrepit old apartment Naruto used to live in as Suna's deserts from Konoha's temperate forests. It's new to begin with, and large, tastefully decorated, if a little sparsely. Sasuke's old rival-friend leads him through a hallway into a comfortable, spacious sitting room, babbling at him to ignore the cardboard boxes because they haven't gotten around to unpacking everything from the move yet. He makes him sit on the couch, while he walks with quick, sure steps to a bookcase that holds more pictures than actual books while the new Mrs. Uzumaki disappears into the kitchen to make tea, though he suspects she's merely giving them space. Sasuke remembers Hyuuga Hinata as a blurry figure in the back of all his Academy memories, shy, quiet, forever pining after a completely oblivious Naruto. He can't begin to imagine what it took to change that little mouse into the woman that greeted him at the door with the confidence and quiet air of content of one who's completely sure of her place in the world.

Naruto himself has that air, he notes. He's still energetic, of course, and the very same idealistic fool who'd set out to change the world, but he doesn't feel the need to shout it to the wind. Sasuke figures he doesn't need to anymore, now that people actually listen. The longer Sasuke stays in his presence the clearer it becomes that even the number one knucklehead has grown up.

"Here. This might help," Naruto says, handing him a thick, leather-bound photo album. He plops down on the armchair across the coffee table and leans forward with his elbows on his knees.

Sasuke can hear Hinata bustling about in the kitchen, placing the kettle in the kitchen with a loud rattle that seems uncharacteristic of a member of such a famously graceful family. The way his companion smiles makes him deduce she does it for his sake. He knows enough about trying to fill the abject silence of an empty house to feel a quick spark of envy. He opens the album to distract himself from it. He comes face to face with Naruto and Hinata smiling at each other on their wedding day, and it's been so long since the days he used to hate that blonde loudmouth, so long since he's learned to accept he's not the only person in the world to have suffered, that the sight of the genuinely happy couple makes something that resembles warmth bloom in his chest. Seeing Naruto happy actually makes him glad.

"Congratulations, by the way," he says, still awkward in this new non-hostile camaraderie they're trying to build.

"Thanks," Naruto all but beams, and there's a new light there, something softer, tender, but burning just as bright.

He can't resist the little jab though, "Took you long enough."

"Tell me about it!" His friend laughs. It's a testament to his maturing that he doesn't immediately stand up and yell at him to shut up.

Sasuke flips a couple of pages of near-identical Hyuugas posing next to the bride and groom until he sees familiar faces. The photos leave the prim and proper realm. They're no longer posed and full of foreign dignitaries. He guesses, by the tables and the occasional dance floor in the background, they were taken at the party. The obligatory politicians and the elderly guests are gone, and the photos are mainly candids of their friends laughing and dancing, or huddled together frowning comically at the camera. He sees Kakashi on a seemingly intense match of thumb war with a disturbingly worn out Gai, all the graduating kunoichi of his year with the happy bride, that loud Inuzuka boy drenching the groom with champagne while Shino stoically patted Hinata in the shoulder somewhere in the background.

It's unsettling and a foreign feeling started taking hold of him. Perhaps nostalgia – or longing.

Their teachers have gotten older, they sport wrinkles and grey hairs, and all his peers have grown – people he grew up with, learned with, fought with. He sees war heroes where a ragtag team of obnoxious children used to be. He realizes he does not know how it happened. They've all grown – and he missed it.

He stops flipping the pages, taking a second to center his thoughts. Naruto mistakes his pause for confusion and launches into an explanation and Sasuke forces himself to pay attention. He's pointing to a blonde woman Ino's trying to drag into a picture. She's vaguely familiar, tall, green eyed, tanned, pretty. She'd been on the photo with the Kazekage, he'd assumed she was part of the diplomatic guest list.

"This is Temari."

"Where do I know her from?"

"You tried to kill her a couple times," Naruto jokes. Sasuke glares at him half-heartedly, because it might be some time since he's been that person, but not enough that he feels comfortable joking about it. "She's Gaara's sister and Suna's ambassador." He flips a page and taps a photo of the same blonde, though she's chuckling in this one, standing next to a disgruntled Nara Shikamaru. "She's Shikamaru's wife. They got married a little after Hina-chan and I."

Sasuke raises his eyebrows. He remembers Shikamaru just slightly more than he remembers Hinata, but what he does recall is a lazy boy who dedicated his time to wasting his potential and grumbling about everything, including – especially – girls. And what's more, "Didn't they fight each other…?"

"At the chuunin exams?" Naruto completes, laughing. "Yes. I guess that's where it all started!" he smiles and shrugs, sitting back against the armchair. "She's strong and crazy smart. Keeps him on his toes." He waves his arm in a whipping motion, imitating the sound of a lash.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata admonishes gently, fighting a smile herself. She carries a tray with three filled cups into the living room and arranges them into the coffee table. She casually sits on the arm of her husband's settee and wraps an arm around his neck.

He immediately turns to her with a grin, like smiling was just his natural reaction to seeing her, intertwining his fingers with the ones resting on his shoulder and wrapping an arm around her himself, sending her this look of pure adoration that's a perfect match to the devotion in hers.

Sasuke finds it sickening.

They are so lucky, and he is so jealous.

"What? Did I tell a lie? He's so whipped!" he insists.

"And aren't you, dear?" she teases, and it takes Sasuke a second to assimilate that Hyuuga Hinata is actually teasing someone.

Naruto shakes his head solemnly. "Touché." He turns back to the photo album. "Oh! There's Ino and Sai."

Sasuke doesn't know Sai by name, but he remembers well enough the pasty faced Root member from a skirmish or two. It does not surprise him to see his old fangirl hanging on his arm, but the soft smile on the man's face does give him pause.

"Yeah, it took us by surprise too," his friend comments.

"Ino's head of T&I now," Hinata provides.

He cannot help it if his head snaps up in disbelief. "_Ino's _head of T&I?"

"And she's great at it too! Could crack your head open and bring you to the brink of insanity in two minutes while humming a love song. It's how she met Sai, actually. He brought the people in, she made sure they didn't come out," he says, frowning at the morbid thought for a moment before physically shaking himself and perking up again, "Sai was Root, you probably know, so he had like, zero emotions. Literally. They were completely wiped out. When he got out, he was very lost. Being around us helped, but he was still clueless. Ino surprised us all."

"She took it upon herself to help him. She was very patient. Slowly, he got better," Hinata adds.

"He's practically normal now!"

"They fell in love sometime through it. They marry in…"

"June!" Naruto cuts off, and his wife shakes her head.

"July," she corrects.

"Aw, man, I never remember this stuff…"

Seemingly noticing Sasuke's reticence, Naruto decides to tug the photo album closer and point people out himself.

"Here are Kiba and Shino. Kiba's nuts as always, never settling down, got more girlfriends than Konoha has leaves. He's got a genin team right now, good at that at least! And Shino's a teacher at the Academy. He's the new Iruka-sensei, funny isn't it? I never would have guessed… Oh, look! That's Tenten. She's got her own weapons store now, isn't it cool? She teaches advanced weaponry to chuunins too."

"What happened to the one with the… Eyebrows?" Sasuke nearly spits. No matter how much time passes, he will never get over his embarrassing defeat at the hands of green spandex clad idiot.

"Lee? Oh, he's fine! Running around with his own mini-me. It's a terrible view, but as long as he's happy… Ah, remember Karui from Kumo? I think she's tried to kill you before. Well, Chouji's dating her. Bit of a bitch, if you ask me…" Hinata sends him a look. "What? You met her too, Hime, you know I'm not lying!"

Sasuke tunes out their light bantering, taking possession of the album himself when it turns to flirting, doing his best to ignore them. It's when he comes across the picture of Team Seven.

It's expanded since he'd been a part of it, their four-man cell lost one and gained two. The new additions, Sai and a man he's not quite sure of, stand beside them in formal clothes and slightly awkward smiles, but the rest of the picture is painstakingly familiar. Kakashi, wearing the Hokage robes and smiling through his mask, has his hand on Naruto's head, the same way he once did when they were newly appointed genins, though he does not have to bend over to be on their height anymore. His other arm, the one that should have been ruffling Sasuke's hair, is down beside his body. There's a blank space, a gap just to the right where he would have been had he been there, a gap that's been left unfilled. He takes a deep breath and looks to Naruto's left, where a more than familiar face greets him with a heartwarming grin.

_She's _different too. Older, wiser. She stands a little taller, and there's a depth to her eyes that speaks to her strength. He wishes he had foundation to compare the girl who'd been his teammate with this brilliant woman staring back at him on their best friend's wedding.

And ever since he walked away after the war there's been this dull ache in his chest, but it's never throbbed so badly as when he's looking at the girl who used to love him and wondering if he's too late once again.

He's been on the road for so long on this journey of discovery, walking great lengths and climbing great heights, standing in the rain and lying in the sun. He's smiled, and cried, and grieved, and rejoiced, and he's gone so far to find himself, but maybe it's really been right here all along.

"Naruto," he calls.

"Yeah?"

"I've been doing some thinking… I think it's about time I come back."

The smile his best friend – his brother – gives him is happy and relieved and _proud. _He shakes his head, rubbing his face and laughing to disguise the mistiness in his blue eyes. He sniffs once and puts up this tough man face that's about as fake as Sasuke's nonchalance. He extends his hand towards him.

Sasuke doesn't hesitate to shake it this time.

"Welcome home, teme."

"Thanks… Dobe."

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><p>Last considerations.<p>

This was vaguely inspired by Passenger's "Let Her Go", particularly the part where it says "Only hate the road when you're missing home". That being said, one of my little headcanons is that Sasuke really turns into a decent human being after his "journey" and that while he and Naruto do have their banter and rivalry, that they're more civil to each other now that they're older. The Naruto we see in 700 is much more mature, and I guess I wanted to see that in Sasuke too.

Thanks for reading!


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